


For a Good Cause

by corastacy



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Group dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-09 03:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3234134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corastacy/pseuds/corastacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry isn't the only one losing sleep- But it's all for a good cause.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For a Good Cause

“All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to night two of the No Sleep Weekend benefiting children’s charities!” The radio DJ acting as master of ceremonies paused for the small smattering of hoots and hollers echoing through the crowd. “As you know teams from various sections of the NYPD and NYFD have been collecting pledges and have accepted the challenge to stay up all night in support of some very worthy causes.”  

Henry didn’t quite understand the correlation between intentionally depriving oneself of sleep and the various causes listed in the program. However it could have been worse. He still remembered when dance marathons were a trend. He looked at the participants and analyzed their wardrobe choices. Many were wearing t-shirts from the sponsors, a fairly obvious choice. Some had goofy hats or other good luck items that were obviously meant to keep them motivated in the wee hours of the morning. He questioned the decision of a team of firefighters to wear matching pyjamas since no doubt wearing sleep attire would subconsciously signal the body to want rest. Henry checked his watch and sighed. The short ceremony had taken 45 minutes so far.

“Oh it’s not that bad.” Jo whispered next to him. “It’s almost over.”

“I believe you made the same claim approximately twenty minutes ago.” He reminded her.   

“True, but he’s introducing the teams so there can’t be anything else after that.” She paused in thought. “Right?” Henry shrugged as the crowd began to applause signalling the end of a team’s welcome. 

“And last but most certainly not least, our fifth team of the evening.” The DJ checked his cards. “Lucas, Mike, Jo and Henry representing NYPD 11th precinct! Come on up folks!” 

Lucas bounded onto the stage full of excitement. It was only appropriate since he was the one that had gotten them all roped into it. 

A week prior there had been a very elaborate case with multiple crime scenes. They decide to divide and conquer: Lucas and Hanson at one, Henry and Jo at the other. Henry and Jo were still working on theirs when Hanson drove up. He got out and slammed the door of his car while Lucas calmly closed the door on his side.   

“You’re telling them.” Mike commanded as they walked up.   

“I know, I know,” Lucas agreed.   

“Telling us what?” Jo asked. Henry stood up from examining the body and removed his gloves.  

“I, well, when we got to the crime scene? Which is totally process and the victim is on the way back to the lab, when we got there there was another team already in place.”

“The 8th right? That’s usually their jurisdiction.” Jo looked at Hanson who was visibly annoyed but nodded.

“Yeah, um so there was this one officer and she was really nice and she’s really into charity work. Which is a very noble hobby for someone who is used to seeing people at their worst so I really admire her for that.” He turned to Hanson “She told me she had three cats, all rescues, I mean that’s really sweet.” 

“Lucas I swear to god-“ 

“Detective Hanson, Since you obviously know what Lucas is trying to say maybe you can assist us in getting to the point a little faster?” Henry tried to defuse the situation. He could see Hanson’s blood pressure was already elevated and was moderately concerned that it may reach dangerous levels if he didn’t separate the colleagues soon.  

“Lucas signed up all up for that freaking no sleep fundraiser thing next weekend.” Hanson glared at the assistant M.E. 

“What?! Are you kidding me? Lucas,” Jo whined. 

“I don’t know what happened, one minute she’s telling me she’s on the organizing committee and then,”  

“And then your overwhelming desire to be appreciated took over and you told her exactly what you knew she wanted to hear.” Henry deduced. “And since you require a team of four to participate the rest of us are collateral damage.”   

“Maybe. But I would like the record to show that I did complete the initial examination before I started talking to her so it’s not that unprofessional?” Lucas’ lame attempt to save face opened up a window of sympathy in Jo. She sighed. 

  “Ok so what time do I have to be there. Can you email me whatever I need to know?” Lucas was visibly relieved.   

“Yes, ok great!” Jo and Lucas looked at the other two expectantly. Mike rolled his eyes. 

“Well considering I was there when you signed us up, I guess I have to.” Lucas thanked him profusely. Henry suddenly found himself faced with three expectant faces. 

  “Henry?” Jo prompted. The M.E tried to come up with any reason to not participate. Jo arched an eyebrow at him as he tried to form the word ‘No’. He exhaled and plastered a pained smile on his face.  

“Why not. It is for a good cause.” 

Those seven words had led Henry to the point he was at now. Standing on an elevated platform in the lobby of a community centre while a local radio host made jokes about Lucas’ Deadpool costume hoodie. After a quick round of applause they were ushered off stage again to join the other teams.

The first few hours were relatively easy. The teams intermingled and got to know each other as they ate donated pizza and drank a variety of caffeinated beverages. The various rooms in the centre were all equipped with books, movies or video games systems.   

“Ooh! this one I can do!” Jo said as they walked by a smaller room. There was a Wii hooked up with Mario Kart “Come on who wants to race?” The three men followed her to the television with Hanson being the first to take the player two wheel. He won the first round, while Jo managed to pull ahead for the next two. Hanson tried to pass the wheel to Henry who looked at the device as if it would explode. 

“Oh I really don’t think-“

“Aw come on Doc. If my six year old can do this so can you.” Hanson taunted him with the wheel a bit before Henry relented and sat down. After a preliminary set of instructions from Lucas, Henry took off on his first race. 

They played until around three in the morning, holding a round robin tournament between the four of them, Hanson the eventual victor.

“Well I know one thing,” Jo said as she and Henry walked the upper level halls sipping coffee to stay awake. “It’s very evident why you don’t drive now.”

“My, severe, lack of skill at a game where you drive a coconut car on a rainbow in space is hardly an indication of my driving prowess.” 

“Ok, so why don’t you drive if you have such, prowess?” She teased. 

“It expired while I was in Guam.” He bluffed. “Then when I moved to New York it seemed unnecessary.” 

“Only if you never feel like leaving the city ever.” She countered. They leaned on a balcony looking down into the foyer where they had began the evening. “You know, I have to admit, I’m having a good time. It’s nice to be losing sleep for something positive.”   

“I quite agree.” Henry said staring at a specific point just on the edge of their field of vision. Jo followed his eye line to see Lucas chatting with a pretty red haired girl holding a clip board. “All for a good cause.” He and Jo smirked at each other. 

“Come on,” She said looping her arm in his. “Let’s go find Hanson and play some cards or something.” They had four hours left to kill. However, their noble motivation made it a walk in the park, or in this case- hallway.


End file.
